More than Good Enough
by kiheitai
Summary: It didn't happen immediately. What they have is precious, long, and enduring. They built it slowly, nurtured it with their friendship over the years. It wasn't passionate as sneaking around after curfew for a snog in one of the unused classrooms, but it's stronger and gentler. They won't have it any other way. [Charlie/OC]


**Chapter 1 - September First**

The first day of September in the year 1984 was a good day to start the year indeed. The sky was a brilliant shade of light blue, with minimal clouds and no indication that it would rain later that day. Autumn seems to come a bit late this year, as the chill of September air was still absent in favor of a warmer temperature that would've been perfect for a leisurely fly with a broom.

However, it was also the day Charles Weasley (fondly called Charlie by his family) would start the first year of his Hogwarts life, so a tour in the garden with the broomstick he shared with his brother Bill would be out of question. His brother Bill was two years older than him, and was sorted in Gryffindor, the same house as his parents. William Weasley (Bill for short) was a boy of thirteen, a tall and thin lad with the same shade of red hair as he is and a wide grin which only grew this particular day when he received his permission slip to go to Hogsmeade every weekends. Mum had refused to sign it at first because Bill grew his hair to his shoulders when he came back from Hogwarts, she only signed it when Bill, who figured his hair is not worth the spoiled trips to town with his friends relented at the last minute and let her cut his hair abnormally short. Charlie snickered at his discomfort and Bill retaliated by holding up mum's buscuits out of his reach (knowing that poor Charlie wouldn't be able to reach it because of his rather short stature) and only leaving him a single biscuit with a bite on it.

Charlie wasn't worried about her big brother's antics anymore, though, because soon he'd be having friends of his own. A few boys his age who he occasionally plays quidditch with are also going to be starting their first year at Hogwarts. Charlie hoped they would meet in the train, he also hoped that he'd be able to play Quidditch with them at school too.

The moment they arrived on Platform 9 3/4, Bill put his arms over Charlie's shoulder. "What's wrong Little Charlie? Are you going to be sick?"

"Sod off Bill!" Charlie attempted to push Bill off of him in fear that Bill would ruffle Charlie's hair again. He did just that, although Charlie managed to successfully drive back Bill a couple of inches.

"You've got that pouty look on your face you're thinking something hard." Bill explained. For a second he looked genuinely concerned, until his lips broke into a mischievous grin as he added. "Don't push yourself, your head couldn't probably handle this much thinking."

Before Charlie could retaliate that he'd rather push Bill off the railings, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley caught up to them. Mrs. Weasley made a beeline for the two red head kids in the sea of children boarding the train and their parents bidding them farewell for the whole year. Charlie wasn't surprised at all that Mrs. Weasley's gaze immediately landed on his tussled hair and tutted disapprovingly.

"Really now, Charlie, do you really wish to make the wrong kind of first impression?" She lightly reprimanded him as she attempted to flatten out the hair sticking up his head. Mr. Weasley looked at his wife fussing over their second youngest with affection, before putting two firm hands on the shoulders of the twins, who looked like they were planning to run off and spread their mischief.

"And where do you think you're going boys?" He addressed them in a stern yet amused tone.

The twins didn't even bother to hide their impish grins. "We were just looking around." said one twin.

"We're not planning on doing anything wrong! Honest!" said another.

At six years old, it was hard to tell Fred and George apart. They rarely left each other's side. By any chance you see one twin without the other it usually means they're up to something and one twin is most likely doing the legwork while the other distracts their poor victims.

Charlie liked the twins. They are most definitely more fun to play with than Percy who almost always has his nose stuck up in a book as he tries to copy whatever Bill is up to. And besides, having the twins on your side almost always makes you an accomplice rather than their victim - the honor would belong to Percy who the twins seem to take a special liking to. Charlie enjoys being a spectator to the twins latest antics, they never fail to deliver the most clever and amusing pranks.

Percy gave the twins a suspicious look. He stood behind Mr. Weasley and the twins with Ron and Ginny. Ron, who saw the exchange between his older brothers and father, immediately looked at the nearest wall - no doubt still feeling the fear from that spider incident. Bill left Charlie to walk over to their only little sister. Bill took a liking to Ginny the moment she was born, and treated her with gentleness reserved for only her and not their other siblings. Ginny adored Bill as well. Whenever she cried when she and Ron had a row, sometimes it was only Bill who could calm her down. She throws a hissy fit whenever Bill leaves for Hogwarts.

"So, Charlie, you'll send us letters yeah?" One of the twins said. Charlie thinks it's George. Really, he couldn't tell them apart.

"Tell us all about Hogwarts. You know, so we'll know our way around before we ever get there." said the other. They wore matching grins and thoughts. It wasn't too hard to guess that they plan on making the ruckus before they even get to the castle.

The twins had been trying to get Bill to tell them about Hogwarts for a while now. Bill, like Charlie, arrived in the same conclusion about the twins' general intentions. According to the proud look their mother gets whenever Bill's letter arrived at home, it seems like Bill, though usually mischievous himself, is something of a model student. He most likely would not want to encourage the twin's mischief while in school.

Charlie merely gave them a conspiratorial grin in reply. Mrs. Weasley, who saw this exchange after fixing Charlie's the last misplaced strand hair, put both of her hands on her waist and looked down on Charlie disapprovingly.

"Now don't you give them any funny ideas!" she reprimanded.

"Wouldn't dream of it mum." Charlie replied. He didn't bother wiping the grin off his face.

Even Mr. Weasley gave him a look of disapproval as he clutched the twin's shoulder's tighter.

Mrs. Weasley let the matter slide for now as she pushed Bill's abandoned trolley towards the train and gestured Charlie to follow her.

"Bill!" Mrs. Weasley called her eldest son, who was still comforting their youngest sister. "Come and help Charlie get settled. Train leaves in ten minutes!"

At the sound of her mother calling, Bill gave Ginny one last hug and wiped her wet cheeks with his hands. "Hush now Ginny!" He said. "It's only for a year. I'll write you letters every day."

Ginny cried harder and clutched Ron's sleeve. Ron, to his credit, held his sister back so Bill could go his way.

"Take care of Ginny will you?" Bill said to Ron with a nod, who resolutely nodded back.

"Don't worry Bill!" one of the twins chirped. "We'll take good care of Ginny."

"Yeah, we'll give her tons of laughs." the other added, looking at Percy with a rather suspicious grin. Percy didn't notice as he, too, was looking sad at Bill's departure. It didn't escape Mr. Weasley's ear though, as he shot a warning look at the twins before releasing them and helping Charlie and Mrs. Weasley push the trunks on the train. When Mrs. Weasley saw her husband, she left them to go back to the siblings on the platform. When it comes to Fred and George, you have guard them harder than your own valuables.

Giving Ginny one last reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, Bill jogged towards the train and assisted Charlie with his own trunk. Charlie bid Ron, Ginny, Percy and the twins a final goodbye as he followed Bill inside the train in search of a compartment. They both settled for the first empty one they saw and leaned out of the window to give their mother a final kiss goodbye. They waved as the train whistled and began to speed up, signaling the beginning of their journey towards Hogwarts.

Charlie waved and waved, and followed the view of his family until they disappeared from view. Bill sat in front of Charlie, finally settling in his seat. Charlie copied his example and let out a huge breath.

"Nervous?" He asked, with a knowing grin on his face.

Charlie debated whether he should tell Bill his worries, lest he give Bill more ammunition to tease him about later. This doesn't seem like one of their squabbling, however, so Charlie replied with a reluctant nod.

"Don't worry! You'll do fine." Bill assured him. It wasn't 'doing fine' that Charlie was worried about though, and neither was making friends nor even playing Quidditch.

Charlie's parents had been Gryffindor, as was his uncles Fabian and Gideon (bless them), and so was his grandfather. Bill was also sorted in Gryffindor. What if… what if Charlie was the only one in the family not sorted into the House?

"Say Bill…" Charlie began, testing the waters. Bill who kept an eye on him after he first tried to reassure his little brother, moved to sit beside Charlie.

Charlie took it as a sign that Bill was trying to be the considerate big brother rather than the annoying big brother this time and continued. "What if I don't get sorted in Gryffindor?"

Bill only shrugged his shoulders. "It wouldn't matter I guess. I mean, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws are not bad, and there's no way you'd get sorted in Slytherin of all places."

 _That_ was really the only thing he feared. What if the hat decides to put him in Slytherin? There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin. You-know-who was Slytherin! Bill said that You-know-who's followers, the Death Eaters, were Slytherins themselves. Even though You-Know-Who disappeared three years ago, his Death Eater followers are still at large. What if the sorting hat decides to put Charlie into such horrible group?"

Bill probably saw through his worried expression, because he clutched both of Charlie's shoulders and shook him gently. "Listen to me. You won't get sorted in Slytherin. I'll have you know that even though you're quite annoying, you're not nasty enough to be sorted there. Now, if you're sorted in Hufflepuff, you'd do very well there. And really, you should be flattered if you're sorted in Ravenclaw. To be honest, I don't think you're nearly smart enough to be there." There was a teasing smirk in his face as he said this. Charlie would probably be insulted some other time, but for now he felt quite relieved.

"If you're still worried, how about it? I'll bet my whole money for Hogsmeade you'll get sorted in Gryffindor."

Bill sounded very certain, like the time he bet before Ginny was born that they'll get a sister rather than a seventh brother. Charlie knew better than to risk it when Bill gets like this, so he just smiled thankfully at his big brother to let him know that he was successful in chasing all the worries away.

Bill nodded in satisfaction and stood up. "Now, I'm going to find my friends and hang out with them for a while. I'll come back later. Try not to throw yourself off the window or Mum will have my head."

With that, Bill was gone and Charlie was alone.

Charlie didn't know what to do on an empty compartment and a moving train. There wasn't really interesting in the view of the country side and just sitting still was making him feel iffy. He couldn't very well find his own friends lest he return and find the compartment occupied in his absence.

He could only sigh, already bored at the prospect of hours to come. He wished he could just follow the train on his broomstick. Really, the feel of the air whipping his face was infinitely better than being cramped on a small compartment doing nothing.

Just then, a rattle came from the glass door of his compartment. The sudden sound after several minutes of silence startled Charlie. He stood up and immediately assessed the cause of the sudden disturbance.

The source of the sound was made by a girl who seems to be struggling to open the door to the compartment. Charlie assisted her with the handle and found out that Bill had shut the door too tightly. With their combined strength, they were able to slide the door open.

"Thank you." The girl said, as she let herself in the compartment without so much as a 'May I come in?' and then shut the door with a hard bang. She settled opposite of where he sat and as far as possible to the door. The girl was seething. She was red in the face, her lips was pursed in a hard line, and her gaze was fixed firmly on the window. Her fist was clenched on her lap, on top of a thick book with a title so long the text was difficult to see from a distance despite it glowing green. Her chestnut brown hair was braided into high twin pigtails, but one was lower than the other. Judging by it's messy state, it looked like it was pulled rather forcefully.

Charlie thought he should leave her alone. Obviously, she was quite cross and probably won't be keen on a conversation. On the compartment across them, Charlie could see children his age pointing and giggling at their direction. Putting two and two together, he guessed that the girl came from that compartment and the children there said something hurtful to her. Charlie felt sorry for her, for it looks like if he so much as tap her, she would start crying.

Whenever his sister cried (mostly due to her fights with Ron or the twin's pranks), Charlie would fetch his broom and use it to fly to the highest cabinet in their kitchen where their mother keeps cookies. Ginny usually cheers up after having Charlie's share for the whole week. Charlie won't have another set of cookies for a week, but it was worth it. Charlie's dilemma now, is that he only has the sandwiches his mum packed for him and he doesn't think it's a suitable replacement to his mum's cookies. So Charlie was put in a rather awkward situation this time, torn between wanting to comfort the girl and not knowing how to do it.

Thankfully, he was spared when the girl sniffed rather loudly and took her gaze off the window to stare at him resolutely.

"Do you think Thersals are a load of bollocks as well?" she demanded, giving him a look as if she dared him to say yes. His mother would've flipped if she heard the girl's choice of words.

Charlie shook his head without deliberation. Something tells him the girl would explode if he said yes. The girl seemed satisfied with his response as her gaze soften a bit. Her lips quirked up and showed the barest hint of smile.

"They said Thersals are just loads of bollocks and only nutters could see them." She broke her stare and looked down sadly on the book settled on her lap. "My grandmother wrote a book about them because she could see them. My grandmother wasn't a nutter!"

Oh so they insulted her grandmother! No wonder she was so upset. If Charlie ever heard of someone accuse his mother, or his father, or his brothers and sister a 'nutter' he wouldn't take it kindly either.

So Charlie voiced out what he thought he would say if he found himself in the girl's situation. "Maybe they're the ones who are nutters then!"

The girl looked shocked at his declaration and the small tentative smile from earlier evolved into a full grin. She had one missing tooth but she appeared to be one of the types who smiled from ear to ear. Charlie felt rather proud of himself for cheering her up.

"They are, aren't they?" she agreed. She seemed more comfortable now than when she stormed in the compartment earlier. Not reducing the size of her grin the slightest, she held out her hand and finally introduced herself.

"Emma Jigger." The name sounds rather familiar, Charlie was sure he heard it quite recently.

"Charlie Weasley." he replied, shaking her hand.

* * *

Charlie and Emma talked so much about Thersals. She apparently liked the mystery surrounding them. Charlie found out that Emma was like his friend Tim, who couldn't keep his mouth shut when talking about his Chocolate Frog card collection. In Emma's case, it was magical creatures. She talked great length about unicorns, dragons, fairies, jobberknoll, and even gnomes. Charlie flinched upon remembering all the de-gnoming he and his brother Bill did all summer. He told her how their experience went but Emma seemed to have an strange fascination with the creatures and claimed gnomes do not infest their greenhouse. She listened very attentively at Charlie when he recalled how his brother Bill had swung the gnome around so much that he was the one who got dizzy and not the gnome. He only told her that the remaining gnomes came out of hiding to laugh at his attempt.

It was past one in the afternoon when Charlie noted that Bill was still missing. He almost asked Emma to save him and his brother a seat in this compartment while he looked for Bill when another clattering in the corridors interrupted them and a lady with graying hair slid their door open and smiled at them warmly. "Anything from the trolley, my dears?"

Charlie didn't really need anything, as he had early lunch in his house and his mum packed him sandwiches. He supposed he should eat it right now before it goes dry.

Emma went out into the corridor to buy from the old lady and returned taking a large bite on a cauldron cake. She settled back to her seat and stretched her arms to give him the cauldron cake she was holding on her other hand.

"Go on." She encouraged when she saw his confusion at the gesture. "Take it. I promise I did not drop it."

It wasn't really what confused Charlie though. For as long as he can remember, Bill and Charlie argued about many things, more often than not on the things they shared. When they were very little, Bill only shared his broomstick with Charlie when their mother put her foot down. Their second worst argument was when Charlie wanted more of his share and cookies and attempted to ask Bill for some of his, which he refused to give and violently reacted when Charlie attempted to force his way. Their father told Charlie later how unfair he was to his older brother because mum always divides their treats equally. As they got more brothers, their shares decreased and they were reluctant to share when they got so few themselves. The twins almost always gets away with 'borrowing' Percy or Ron's share, and Bill and Charlie only shared freely to poor little Ginny when she was born.

So it was quite understandable that Charlie haven't figured out this new concept presented to him. In his experience, it was not that often that he was shared with something freely. The only exception was Fred and George, who most likely put something in the food if they're giving it away with a smile.

Emma grew tired of Charlie's continued confusion and just pushed the cake in his mouth.

Had the cauldron cake been any bigger, Charlie would've choked to death before he even began his first year at Hogwarts. His first response won out and he successfully swallowed the cake wholly the moment it was inside his mouth. It was quite a shame, because he barely savored the treat before it was gone. He could still faintly taste it's chocolatey flavor in his tongue though, so maybe that was enough.

Emma seemed satisfied enough of the development and not so discreetly wiped her hand on her skirt.

"Since we shared food, that means you're my friend now right?" She gave him another toothy grin that Charlie couldn't help but match. Because of their newfound friendship and the fact that she so readily shared her cake to him, Charlie was eager to return the favor. He took out a lumpy package and unwrapped it excitedly. Inside it are five sandwiches, five tasty sandwich which are a testament to his mother's cooking skill.

"Here take one of mine too." Charlie offered. Emma didn't hesitate at all like he did and he found that it was rather nice sharing food to someone. It was almost like sharing cookies with Ginny.

Emma looked delighted when she took a bite on the sandwich. "This is amazing!" She claimed as she took another excited bite.

"My mum made it." Charlie proudly said. His mum's cooking is always the best.

"My mamma is always working." Emma shared, after she took her third and last bite. It took Charlie a lot more to finish his. "So my father is the one who cooks most of the time. Oh that's right! I also have pumpkin juice. We could share it as well."

And so they continued bonding over Charlie's remaining sandwich and Emma's pumpkin juice. They were speeding past mountains now, the fields of the countryside long past them. Charlie told Emma all about his summer, because Emma seems genuinely enjoy his stories.

After they passed under a mountain, the door to the compartment slid open and Bill walked inside. He looked like he was about to say something to Charlie before noticing that he has company.

"Oh. Hello?" said Bill as he stared from Charlie and Emma as if he did not expect the sudden turn of events.

Charlie quickly introduced Bill. "This is my brother Bill."

Compared to the way she introduced herself to Charlie earlier, she doesn't seem to be as enthusiastic to meet Bill. She looked at him uncertainly as if she was examining if an old broomstick can still be used to play Quidditch.

"I'm Emma Jigger." Emma finally said.

"Jigger? Like Slugs and Jiggers?"

Emma nodded. "Yes. My father owns the shop."

So that was why Charlie found her last name familiar. Just two weeks ago, his father accompanied Bill and him to the shop in order to buy supplies for their potion class.

Bill looked mildly impressed. "Oh, well it's nice to meet you." He gave her a friendly smile and spoke to Charlie. "Charlie, I'm going back to my friends. You'll be alright here yeah? I'll be in the middle of the train if you need me. See you later at the station."

Bill walked outside and slid the door that he left open when he walked in shut. Before he disappeared on the corner, he gave Charlie a playful grin and waggled his eyebrows suggestively. It must have supposed to mean something, but Charlie did not understand what Bill was trying to do.

When Bill was out of sight, Emma looked relaxed again. "Your brother is really tall."

It was true. Bill had always been considerably taller than Charlie was. Charlie was quite small for his age and most of his friends are taller than him. This summer though, when Bill came back from Hogwarts, his robes almost showed his ankles. Mrs. Weasley had to buy Bill new ones and Charlie got Bill's old robes for his first year of school. The slight problem was the fact that Bill wasn't as big as Charlie, so Charlie ended up with robes a little too tight for him.

"I guess…" He muttered, feeling quite upset after being reminded of this.

Emma didn't seem to realize what the effect of her words were. Instead, she offered him more of her pumpkin juice. Charlie realized that he didn't want to seem as though he lacked something as basic as a drink so he kindly refused her offer and took out the water his mother packed with his sandwich and drank that instead.

Emma continued to tell stories of magical creatures her grandmum told her about. Charlie pitched in occasionally on the things he knew about. During summer, Bill liked to do a bit of reading when they finished their school shopping. One of the subjects he would be taking this school year is Care of Magical Creatures. On the days when his friends are unavailable to play with outside, Charlie kept Bill company so he won't get bored while he kept watch on Ginny. Care of Magical Creatures was the only one in Bill's courses this year that Charlie was interested enough to talk about.

Emma was different to Bill though. Bill showed Charlie pictures of the creatures in his book, while Emma tried to describe it in words in very vivid detail. When Bill told Charlie about the unicorn, he told that it was a white horse that had a single horn on it's forehead. When Emma talked about the creature, she told him about how the unicorn was so bright even snow seemed darker in comparison. She didn't stop there. She also told him about it's horn being used to make a potion to wake wizards from deep sleep. One must know a lot of things when they grow up in a potions shop, Charlie thought.

It was getting dark when Emma finally stopped talking about the different ways to extract rat spleen, which Charlie was grateful for. He didn't think he could have the stomach for the feast later if he heard one more detail about the rodent organ but he was afraid that Emma would storm out like she did in the previous compartment she was in.

Emma peered out of the window. "Do you reckon we're getting there?"

Charlie looked out of the window and saw that it was getting dark. The deep purple sky made the trees in the forest look a bit spooky. Bill told Charlie that the train stops after dusk. Maybe they would arrive any minute now.

"I think so." Charlie said. He felt the train slowing down. "You think we should put on our robes?"

Emma nodded and they took out their robes. Charlie took off his sweater as his robes were tight enough to fit a thick clothing. Emma simply put on her robes and fixed her braid. A voice echoed through the train announcing that they would arrive at Hogwarts in a few minutes' time and instructed them to leave their trunks as it would be delivered to Hogwarts.

Charlie felt a little nervous but reminded himself of Bill's assurance later. Emma was clenching and unclenching her fists. Charlie didn't know if she was nervous or excited or both. Charlie was feeling a bit of both, however. As the train halted to a stop, Emma was tapping her foot noisily on the floor. Charlie was too distracted in his own emotions to mind though. So many thoughts raced in his mind.

 _Could I still play Quidditch during breaks?_

 _Is potions really as hard as Bill said it would be?_

 _Are the teachers going to be scarier than mum?_

The noise of people getting out of their respective compartments halted the questions Charlie's mind could conjure up. Charlie stood up and slid their door open to follow their fellow students up when Emma grabbed the sleeves of his robes.

Charlie turned to her. "What is it?"

Emma hesitated for a bit before crying out. "You'd still be my friend in Hogwarts right?"

"Of course I will." He assured her, feeling confused about the question. You can't stop being friends once you're friends can you?

"Even though we're not in the same house?" She asked in a small voice.

Charlie almost forgot about the matter of Houses until she brought it up, but when he thought about it, he decided it really doesn't matter.

"Even so."

Emma smiled as if he gave her a golden snitch and told her to keep it forever. Her smile distracted Charlie, his gaze kept dropping on her missing tooth.

September first of the year 1984 was the day Charlie Weasley and Emma Jigger began their long friendship. And like Charlie said, it didn't really matter that they were sorted in different houses: Charlie in Gryffindor and Emma in Ravenclaw.

* * *

I don't own Harry Potter and this piece of word vomit is unbeta'd. This fic was inspired by the fact that I want a Hogwarts story featuring Charlie as the main character and the lives of other students from other houses. So I'll be taking on the challenge of creating very much Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor characters without the usual 'Ravenclaw are nerds' 'Slytherin are assholes' 'Gryffindors are brave heroes' and 'Hufflepuffs are a bunch of people who don't fit in the above three' stereotypes.

Also, this is more of a friendship fic than romance because it'll really be long and subtle.

Thanks for reading!


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